We are back from Awana Scholarship Camp!  WOW, it was awesome!  Melissa said it was the best camp ever.  I agree, they get better every year. 

The theme for Dixie Mountain Scholarship Camp 2006 was “All over the world.”  During the week we traveled to: The Wild West, Mexico, Hawaii, Hollywood, and India.  We ate 17 meals in under 17 hours (the average time to get all campers and staff through the meal line and out of the cafeteria was 48 minutes) and counselors averaged 6 hours of sleep per night (high school campers got about 7 ½ hours and middle school campers got about 8 ½ hours).  We spent over 10 hours in evening worship, 5 hours in morning worship and personal devotion time, and 5 hours in intensive Bible study.  During the rest of the day we were on the game field for activities (Awana style games on a GRAND scale), at Bible Quizzing, or having free time. 

I was co-counselor in a small cabin of 15 girls (most cabins had 22 girls).  The girls ranged in age from 10 to 13, most being 11.  We got them up at 7 am and into bed by 10:30 pm (most nights J ).  Willette and I worked hard to keep up with them.  Our girls came from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.  All of them arrived at camp professing a saving faith in Jesus Christ and left camp with a deeper relationship.  Two of our girls could use your continued prayers - Eugenia and Lacey.  They are sisters who are raising themselves after being abandoned by their mother and left alone by their father and stepmother.   They live in an economically depressed area and their Awana leader shared with me about their home life.  Eugenia is a serious 12 year old and Lacey is an 11 year old prankster.  They love the Lord, and were sent to camp by their church so they could be kids for a week and dig deeper into God’s word.  The camp motto was: Send us your best and we’ll send them back better.  I believe we did just that!

Our worship leader was Matt Papa of The Matt Papa band.  Check out his website at: http://www.mattpapa.com.  Matt and his band are four Godly young men with a passion for reaching students with the Gospel of Christ through music.  Our camp pastor was Carey “Skeeter” Hudson and he did a fantastic job of ministering to students and adults.  He will be organizing camp for 2007 and you can see his website at: http://www.dixiemountaincamp.org.  The website just got up and running on June 10, so it is in its earliest stages. 

In 2007, Abigail will be able to join us at camp and she is very excited about joining her sisters in the ‘greatest week of the summer’.  Abigail earned her Awana Excellence award this year, and will be in her third T&T handbook in the fall. 

Daniel and Abigail had a great time while we were gone.  They spent Monday with Tim. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent with our friends the Stafford’s.  They took A and D fishing at a friend’s pond and Daniel caught a 2-pound catfish.  (We’ll be happy to send a photo if you want, just let me know.)   On Thursday they were with the Cole’s.  Sarah took them shopping for Father’s Day and swimming.  My Friend Jeanne watched them Friday and Abigail said they got to run in the sprinkler, eat banana Popsicles, paint, and watch a movie.  Tim says Abigail turned into a “little mother” and cooked frozen pizza, washed dishes, did laundry, and bossed her brother around. 

We are looking forward to the 2006-07 Awana Year.  Camp always gets me excited about working with kids.  I love the Awana motto: Because Kids Matter to God!  That is what keeps me serving year in and year out.  On June 24 I will attend an all-day training to be able to train Awana Leaders.  This will be really helpful for our area because we do not have a local Awana Basic Trainer, and to attend basic training leaders have to travel to Atlanta. 

Katie and Melissa will be Awana Journey 24/7 Students and Leaders in Training in the upcoming club year.  They began a 12-week study of the book of Revelation at camp and will continue with that through the summer and fall.  Both girls will work with our T&T clubs (3^rd through 6^th graders). 

Tina